Stop the press: Could Maui reconsider plans culling its vacation rentals? This is another possible whirlwind change impacting visitors and residents alike.
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81 thoughts on “Stalled? Plan To Cut 7,000 Maui Vacation Rentals Hits Pause”
As a vacation home owner for 20 years, I get to talk to travelers quite a bit. One thing that almost all Hawaii travelers share is the opinion that most native people from Hawaii still dislike us travelers, they tolerate us but really wish we were not coming to their Islands. Also we understand that most of the vacation properties there are owned by people from the mainland and so we would be hurt by the current proposal more than local owners. The proposal will make the owners of these properties want to sell these properties and housing values will take a big hit over there. Besides being a vacation home owner I recently retired after 32 years as a Realtor so I have a little knowledge about things like this. If the goal was really to help local people get affordable housing the government there would invest in low cost condo’s and apartments that most of the other states have been doing for the last several years. One final note, it’s not the economy that is keeping us away!
Could not have said it better, I am an owner at Kama”ole Sands
it is not a goldmine like some people seem to think
Aloha from Pu’u Honua O Pi’iholo, Maui Nei, HK/SMK!
The solution to this problem goes back 131 years, when America illegally overthrew the Hawai’ian Kingdom, and has continued to illegal and unrighteously, occupy the Hawai’ian Islands! And until that is made Pono, you will never have a just resolution that plagues Maui, Hawai’i, and this poor planet!
Speaking the Truth in Aloha, your friend and brother in Christ.
June 27, 1959. Hawaiʻi voters approved the Statehood bill 132,773 to 7,971 votes.
94% of Hawaiians voted in favor of becoming U.S. citizens.
Try not to be a sour-grapes loser.
I think it’s good to revisit. Start fresh with ST rentals. Only hosted homes or staffed condo complexes. Not condos without staff such as FD and security. Which we don’t have. Allow a certain amount of rentals with registered permits w county. If complex is allowed ST have HOAs be larger for the VRBO Owners to cover cost of extra staff and extra wear and tear. Also increase taxes to give back to our Maui community. Meeting new parameters to set forth in the future and also make sure Owners are paying taxes and have legal on island property management that are also legally responsible and licensed with insurance.
There are many ways to have this more controlled and not take away LT rentals and affordable housing/rent for the locals.
Your answer alludes to the fact that many condo developments on the Minatoya List are a mix of short term, long-term rental, and owner-occupied. Are you a long term renter or an owner who resents the vacationers next door? At our complex, only one unit was STR. Then two became STRs, and now 6 are STRs. Why? Because the building is 42 years old and plumbing, pool, roof need replacing. HOA fees increase 25% every year. A few owners with no mortgages do alright. But anyone with a mortgage must rent STR to cover their costs. Kama’ole Sands just had a $63,000 special assessment. Thank goodness for vacationers. Owners can make ends meet with this income. That is why these condos could never be affordable housing. And really, they are much better neighbors than some long-term renters….
If you don’t want my business I can go somewhere else.
Tourism should benefit the community but not trap the community. The only way to depreciate land prices (driving rental rates down) is to develop a strong community planning vision where locals can benefit through employment and resources to sustain the island. Earning billions to spend billions doesn’t do anyone good. Earning $30 per hour doesn’t do you any good if you can’t find a place to live and how will businesses thrive when there is not enough people to work?
How about demanding that your elected officials build workforce housing with the millions of dollars of tax revenue they take in every year? A “strong community planning vision,” as you put it, would use tax income from the tourist industry to benefit local workers by subsidizing rental apartments and single family homes that they can afford with local wages.
Hopefully, we can find honest, trustworthy candidates to vote for.
Just another example why politicians shouldn’t make business decisions. They just don’t have the intellectual capability.
Regarding the STR bill, one only needs to read the local newspaper or turn on Joe Moore each evening to get a feel for what Hawaiian politics is about: greed, nepotism, cronyism, graft and various sundry scandal. This bill is so dead on arrival with its ability to cripple Maui. The $300k cost for the study reminds me vaguely of the Aloha Stadium mess. Light rail anyone? Oops, sorry, that boondoggle presaged all this….
Losing 7000 unit would be devastating to Maui’s economy. Maui’s leader need to be smart and forward thinker, not going backwards. Eliminating the 7000 will force tourists to the large hotel complexes and make Maui less inviting to tourists. Maybe Maui’s Mayor is being bought off by the large hotel corporations?
Yes! Governor Green, too. The hotels would love to see STRs put out of business.
Of course– the hotel industry is laughing with all the ruckus on STR ban –their millions dished out as lobby money to quash STRentals are working
The lack of accountability and gross political pandering has been staggering…not just in Maui but by a state government that has used the short term rental controversy as a diversion to avoid responsibility for mismanagement and a lack of action in the state. What’s more, they seek to win political favor by blaming mainlanders who own property on the island. Funny that they see themselves as separate from the U.S. when it’s politically convenient but believe they are entitled to federal support when they need it. Unbelievable.